The Hawera Star. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1926. AGRICULTURE IN HIGH SCHOOLS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 22 November 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1926. AGRICULTURE IN HIGH SCHOOLS.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Uui.aia, Norman by. Okaiawn, Eltliam, Mangatoki. Kapor.ga, Alton, Ilurleyville. Patca, Waverley Mokoia, Wliakaniara. Oliangai, Wo-r» jii/re, h raker Uuad and Ararata.

The Board of Studies of Hie University of New Zealand, by its recommendation that agriculture be deleted from the science syllabus for the matriculation examination, has struck a direct blow at one of the healthiest recent developments of secondary education in this country. .Justly or un.jusilv, the charge is laid against our postprimary school system that it is biased away from the land, and that country girls and hoys are lost to rural life by continuing their education beyond the sixth standard. The best answer to this accusation is a secondary school course definitely weighted in favour of farm and home training; and this is what many, of the High Schools of the Dominion have attempted to provide in their agricultural classes. Further, these were undoubtedly helped in their object by the inclusion of agriculture as a braueh of the matriculation subject “natural science.” If the latest proposal of the Board of Studies be accepted by the University Senate, this aid to agriculture in the High Schools will lie cut away, and the rural course will be placed under a cloud as academically inferior 'to the study cf the Classics and pure science. As our education system is planned at present, the matriculation examination is the goal of the secondary scholar, this whether or not he proposes to proceed to the University; and the Board of Studies should be prepared to accept this position, and to be guided by it in framing the matriculation syllabus. As it is. the board seemingly prefers to take the strictly narrow view of the examination as a preliminary to actual matriculation —that is, enrolment as an undergraduate of the University. The difficulty arises from the dual significance which has come to be attached to this examination in recent years. Rightly it is the test prescribed for University entrance candidates; but if is now looked upon also as the hallmark of a secondary education, and as such is the ‘‘open sesame” to most of the newer professions, and. to man" junior appointments in commerce as well The University has had nothing to do with this secondary importance of “Matric. ”; it prescribes the examination fo r its own purposes. Yet the University Senate and its curricula committee, the Board of Studies, surely cannot close their eyes to the double part played by an examination which must be now, by reason of its annual throug of candidates —at two guineas a heada highly profitable enterprise. Already the University makes provision for a degree in agriculture; and interest in this branch of science at university standard is bound (o be stimulated by the establishment of a North Island Agricultural College. Therefore agriculture as a field of study has the approval of the University, and presumably of the Board of Studies; it is not an upstart subject unworthy the dignity of the matriculation test. At present a candidate who does not take either Latin or Greek for the examination, must take one science subject, the three of which available are physical science, natural science and home science. Natural science is covered by two papers, one general and the other of which may be in botany, physiology or agriculture as the candidate elects. For the purposes of this paper, agriculture includes a knowledge of soils, manures, plant growth, crops and dairy science. Tn common fairness, agriculture cannot be dropped from this syllabus while physiology and botany are left untouched. And it would be inconsistent to strike out all three divisions—so leaving 1 the examination in natural science wholly general—and to retain home science in the syllabus. If the objection be to applied science, then knowledge of the action of baking powder and the principles of cooking must, go overboard with the Babcock tester and an understanding of soil analysis. As a matter of fact, the home science necessary for matriculation is not necessary as a preliminary to study for the degree in that branch; and, similarly, a boy who took physical science (including chemistry) in -his matriculation examination could doubtless hold his own in the School of Agriculture at Lincoln or Palmerston North. The inclusion of home science and of agriculture in the examination syllabus in the first place wont beyond the requirements for university entrance. Ft was an admission that matriculation sets the seal on a secondary school course, and an honest attempt to assist the secondary schools in their desire to educate for the home nnil the farm no less than for the surgery and the law court. Most parents who send their children to secondary schools do so uncertain as to the girls’ or hoys’ future work —at twelve or thirteen most of us are divided between aviation and piracy as professions — and those whose vision is not limited by economic necessity naturally set as a goal the matriculation examination, so that the door will be open in three or four years’ time for the child to turn in whatever direction he may fancy. A level-headed farmer-father may be expected to reason somewhat in this fashion: “Here is my boy through his sixth standard. L can afford to give him something more, and I wisli to do so —I realise how much I missed. He must go to the High School to dig deep in the mine of English literature, to gather the wonders of history and to learn some of the mar-

vels of science. When he is through

T hope, that he will come back home and be ready to take over the place when lam past work, or to take a farm of his own; so I think he had better take the agricultural* course. With the subjects ho gets there lie can pass the matriculation examination, and if he should seem cut out for a scientist or an engineer rather than a farmer, the way will be open to him. The opportunity of matriculating from the agricultural course gives him two strings to his how.” . . . 'But. drop agri-

culture from the matriculation syllabus, make it. impossible to matriculate from the agricultural course at school and you at once drive the farm boy to the classical side if he wishes to see a clear path before him. That is what the Board of Studies proposes to do. There is a strong case for advancing dairy science to equal status with that enjoyed by agriculture in the syllabus as it now stands; but, instead of conceding this advance, the board has stepped backward from the present position. The value of the matriculation examination as a test for University entrance will not be impaired; nor will its rating as the hall-marlc of a. secondary schooling be lowered (since those who desire this stamp will frame their courses accordingly). But., once this recommendation becomes the law of the University, the growing strength of agricultural study in the secondary schools of New Zealand will be shattered. the so-called agricultural course will become a laughing-stock, and a community which draws its sustenance from the soil will stand condemned of educating its boys away from their rightful heritage.